Personal Values and Behavior: Taking the Cultural Context into Account

Abstract Taking a cross-cultural perspective, we review recent advancement in theory and empirical research on the relationships between personal values and behavior. Although personal values have been examined in many studies, systematic, theory-based, cross-cultural comparisons of the relations of personal values and behavior are rare. In this review, we offer suggestions for research within an integrative perspective that links culture, personal values, and behavior. People from different cultures vary in the extent to which they use their internal attributes to guide their behavior. Thus, the strength of the relationships between values and behavior differs across cultural groups. Culture also moderates the relationships between values and behavior by determining the repertoire of normative behaviors. Culture determines the meaning of behavior, so that seemingly similar behaviors may have different meanings in different cultures. Finally, we discuss the possible effect of the increasing heterogeneity of society on the relationship of values and behavior.